Fun in Girls' Shorts 2

2009

Frameline -- which produces the annual San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival -- presents its second compilation of notable selections from the world of lesbian film, featuring a diverse array of narrative, documentary and animated shorts. Highlights include a same-sex send-up of soap operas, a tale of two antique dolls who partake in a nighttime tryst, and the true story of a lesbian who makes a remarkable discovery about her ancestors.

2.3 Average Rating

In Passing

2006

With New York City as a backdrop, actress Vanessa Kelly (Veronica Mittenzwei) and playwright Julia Garrison (Lisa Rothe) fall in love in this tender lesbian romance that faces a singular set of challenges. Being a couple proves complicated as Vanessa and Julia open their hearts, becoming more involved and more vulnerable -- and when one of the women violates the other's hard-earned trust, their relationship lands on the rocks.

2.3 Average Rating

The World According to Shorts

2008

Hailing from opposite ends of the globe, six filmmakers contribute to this eclectic collection of short films, masterfully compiled by producer Jonathan Howell to create a stunning mosaic of the world via cinema. Shorts include Adam Guzinski's "Antichrist," Daniel Askill's "We Have Decided Not to Die," Hans Petter Moland's "United We Stand," Jane Malaquias's "The Old Woman's Step," Hugo Maza's "La Perra" and Andreas Hykade's animated "Ring of Fire."

2.3 Average Rating

Rain

2000

Director Katherine Lindberg's stark drama proves that still waters run deep ... and dangerous. Iowa housewife Ellen Biddle (Melora Walters) has had all she can take thanks to a drought that's destroying the family farm, unsympathetic creditors and a cheating husband. Unable to contain her simmering rage any longer, Ellen kills her two-timing spouse -- an act that brings long-buried secrets to light, threatening to unravel the entire town.

2.3 Average Rating

Robin's Hood

2003

After being fired for her caring approach with clients, disenchanted social worker Robin (Khahtee V. Turner) is at a loss as to how to help her impoverished neighborhood, but everything changes when she meets butch lesbian Brooklyn (Clody Cates), a mechanic who moonlights as a thief. In this hip-hop update on the classic Robin Hood fable, sparks fly between the two women, and soon, they hatch a plan to bring relief to their inner-city community.

2.3 Average Rating

Off the Chain

2004

What's a surefire cure for a lazy husband? One angry wife feels that murder might be the best remedy. Unfortunately for her, she hires a cop to pull the trigger, and the media soon has a field day with a story that just gets better and better. It seems her shiftless hubby wants his wife (who's now behind bars) to give him a second chance and prove that love is better the second time around.

2.3 Average Rating

Men with Guns

1997

Director Kari Skogland helms this crime drama, a variation on the themes presented in John Sayles's same-titled film. When losers and pseudo-criminals Eddie (Donal Logue) and Richard (Gregory Sporleder) are sent to collect a debt at a remote farm, the baddies they encounter there prove insurmountable, sending the pair away beaten and humiliated. Undaunted, the two soon return with guns in hand … and things quickly go from bad to worse!

2.3 Average Rating

Equinox Knocks

1999

It's the witching hour when 17-year-old Allie Black (Katherine James) plots revenge on her philandering boyfriend after catching him in the arms of her archrival, Lynette. Unfortunately, Allie's wishes collide with the autumnal equinox, and she becomes … a &NFi;he&NFi_;! Only Allie's best friend, Courtney (Debra Cassidy), has the power to reverse the process -- if she can remember the right incantation, that is!

2.2 Average Rating

Solitude

2005

A woman finds herself caught in the middle of a twisted sibling rivalry in this indie drama from directors Pi Ware and Susan Kraker. Artist Soledad (Ronne Orenna) gets more than she bargained for when she and her partner, Hilary (Mary Thornton), make a pit stop at the home of Hilary's brother, Louis (Patrick Belton), during a road trip. Hilary and Louis soon start bickering and end up in an all-out war as they stir memories of their sordid past.

2.2 Average Rating

Mascara

1999

Three very different women (Ione Skye, Lumi Cavazos and Amanda De Cadanet) find that no amount of mascara can hide their hunger for passion or the pain of infidelity as they struggle to rediscover the value of their friendship at a time when their lives are in turmoil. But panic sets in as they approach their 30th birthdays and nothing in their lives is going according to plan.

2.2 Average Rating

The Early Works of Cheryl Dunye

1990

The endearing, provocative wit of filmmaker Cheryl Dunye is on full display in this collection of early works that preceded her breakout first feature, Watermelon Woman. The short films featured here -- the lesbian dating odyssey "Greetings from America," "The Potluck and the Passion," "An Untitled Portrait," "Vanilla Sex," "She Don't Fade" and "Janine" -- uniquely blend narrative and documentary techniques with entertaining results.

2.2 Average Rating

Short: International Release #2

2000

Aficionados of short films will relish the award-winning, cosmopolitan flicks contained in Warner Bros.' "Short Cinema Journal" series. The DVDs group the movies by category -- in this case, animation, music, interview, fiction and documentary. Volume 2 titles include "Kite," "Gorky's Zygotic Mynci," "Irish Actors: Brosnan and Byrne," "Kaal," "Gabriel," "Jane Campion and the Portrait of a Lady" and "First Person Singular: I.M. Pei."

2.2 Average Rating

Jupiter Landing

2005

When six reclusive tenants of a rundown apartment building called Jupiter Landing receive a 30-day eviction notice, they're forced to buck their antisocial ways and band together. Nicki (Naomi West), the reluctant leader, struggles to organize and motivate her slacker neighbors into taking a stand. Joel Riet, Bryce Wagoner, Connie Young, Monique Lanier and Tod Huntington fill out the cast of this independent dark comedy.

2.2 Average Rating

Blindness

2003

As if their relationships weren't complicated enough, a woman (Vivian Wu), her husband (Chin Han) and her blind mother-in-law (Lisa Lu) are forced to trust and rely on each other when they're held hostage by a deranged madman (Joe Lando) overcome with bloodlust. With so much baggage among them, can the trio transcend their difficulties and save their necks from a gruesome end? Or do family ties truly bind so tight, they hurt worse than death?

2.2 Average Rating

Girls Kissing

2003

Barbara Lee's fast-paced documentary explores lesbianism from a variety of angles, including how pop culture is changing society's outlook on the subject. Radio show host Sue Johanson ("Sunday Night Sex Show") comments on social and political issues, and Lee's film captures a range of personal experience and opinion on the subject through candid interviews with real-life couples, porn stars, gay activists, Christian crusaders and many others.

2.2 Average Rating

Tokyo Cowboy

1994

Obsessed with living in the kind of Wild West depicted in his favorite movies, wannabe cowboy No Ogawa (Hiromoto Ida) quits his dead-end job in Tokyo and heads to Canada to meet his childhood pen pal, Kate (Christianne Hirt). Unfortunately for No, Kate has no intention of being his cowgirl, and soon, the endearing "Tokyo Cowboy" is forced to find his way alone on the dusty prairies of the Great White North.

2.2 Average Rating